ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
Solar Projects of 10.2 GW Developed in Solar Parks: Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Power
The Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Power has informed that the “Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects” scheme has an approved allocation of Rs. 8,100 Crores.
The scheme has been extended up to FY 2025-26 without any additional financial implication. Hence, no additional funds are allotted for extension of the scheme.
The Minister informed that the Government has sanctioned 50 Solar Parks with aggregate capacity of 37,990 MW in 12 States across the country, so far. Against this sanction, 11 Solar Parks with aggregate capacity of 8,521 MW have been completed and 7 Solar Parks with aggregate capacity of 3,985 MW have been partially completed. In these parks, solar projects of aggregate capacity of 10,237 MW have been developed.
The Minister further informed that the electricity generation capacity of solar projects installed in various Solar Parks has increased by 2,292 MW during the last three years and current year.
Around 69,000 hectares of land has been acquired so far for Solar Parks. Provision of land for Solar Parks is responsibility of the concerned State/UT Government. Further, the Solar Park scheme encourages use of waste/non-agricultural land for development of Solar Parks.
This information has been given by the Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Power Shri R. K. Singh, in a written reply to two questions, in Rajya Sabha on August 8, 2023.
Special Service and Features
Cycle Rally on World Environment Day
Ministry of Tourism Govt of India Southern Regional Office Chennai organized a Birding and Cycling experiential tour as part of World Environment Day on 5th June 2022 at Pallikaranai Marsh Eco Park Chennai in association with Tamilnadu Forest Dept, Biodiversity conservation Board, Wild Life crime control Bureau, Greater Chennai Corportation and Green Commision.
Around 200 members participated in the Birding activity from 06.30 AM to 07.30AM with assistance of experts from Forest Department and around 150 cyclists participated in the cycle rally which was flagged off at.08.45 AM by Shri Mohamed Farouk, Regional Director , Ministry of Tourism, along with Shri Vinodh Gandhi, Environmentalist and Cyclist, Shri Sekar Kumar Niraj, PCCF & Member Secretary Biodiversity Board, Shri Krupa Shankar, Reg.Dy.Director , Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
Around 15 differently abled persons also participated in the rally
The Rally of 15 Kms was completed at Guru Nanak college and the cyclists were welcomed by Shri J M H Aasan Moulana, MLA , Velachery along with dignitaries. Certificates and souvenirs were presented to the Cyclists and participants. A better consensus on promoting Sustainable and Responsible tourism through Environment preservation was inculcated amoung the participants
Event is supported by Prakruthi, Kotinos Sports, SPARK, ride, Disability Rights Alliance, Bay of Life and Guru Nanak College Chennai.
For more photos you may access this link: https://www.meerodrop.com/en/drop/ce42d795-eb09-46ab-961c-126ac0614d9b
Prime Minister's Office
PM pays tributes to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his punyatithi
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi paid tributes to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his punyatithi.
"लोकतंत्र को सशक्त करने के लिए अपना जीवन समर्पित करने वाले, विचार को व्यवहार बनाने वाले, लोकतांत्रिक मानकों का जीवनपर्यन्त निर्वाह करने वाले लोहिया जी समस्त देश के प्रेरणा पुरुष हैं।
समाजवाद के प्रवर्तक, विचारों को सत्ता से ऊपर और देशहित को सर्वोपरि मानने वाले लोहिया जी को उनकी पुण्यतिथि पर शत-शत नमन।", the Prime Minister said.
Ministry of Finance
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019-20  – Issue Price
In terms of Government of India Notification No. F.No.4-B/2019 dated September 30, 2019, Sovereign Gold Bonds 2019-20  will be opened for the period January 13-17, 2020. The issue price of the Bond during the subscription period shall be `4,016  – per gram with Settlement date January 21, 2020, as also published by RBI in their Press Release dated January 10, 2020.
Government of India in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has decided to allow discount of `50  per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode. For such investors the issue price of Gold Bond will be ₹3,966  per gram.
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurates Regional Centre of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development  at Mohali
WCD Minister stresses upon need for training of elected Women representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions
The Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi stressed upon the need for training and development of elected women representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions  to ensure that fruit of development may reach the grassroots level through their active participation and actual empowerment. She was addressing the function after inaugurating the 5thRegional Centre of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development  at SahibzadaAjitSingh Nagar , Punjab today.
NIPCCD is a premier organisation devoted to promotion of voluntary action, research, training, and documentation in the overall domain of women and children development.NIPCCD already has four such Regional Centres one each at Bangalore, Guwahati, Indore and Lucknow besides the Headquarters at New Delhi.
The WCD Ministertook a round of the newly built centre at Mohali. She visited the Child Guidance Centre wherein on display were many playing tools/ materials exclusively prepared by NIPCCD for preschool children. She suggested that NIPCCD should start patenting the play materials developed and distribute the same at Anganwadis who can use the material for preschool training. She also informed that lakhs of women are suffering from various types of violence related problems and for helping them ‘One-Stop-Centres’ are being set up across the country including Punjab and Haryana.
A cultural programme was also organized wherein the children of Child Care Institutions  enthralled the audience. Song & Drama cultural troupe of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting gave a performance on BetiBachaoBetiPadhao theme.
President's Secretariat
President of India attends Commemoration of 70th Anniversary of Adoption of the Constitution of India
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, attends the commemoration of 70th anniversary of adoption of the Constitution of India, being organized by the Indian Parliamentary Group, in the Central Hall of Parliament House today .
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the Constitution of India lies at the foundation of the world's largest democracy. This is the supreme law in the country’s democratic framework and it continuously guides us in our endeavours. The Constitution is also the fountainhead of our democratic system of governance and our guiding light.
The President said that our democracy finds its resonance in our Constitution. To ensure that the Constitution remains relevant over time, the makers of the Constitution also incorporated provisions allowing future generations to make necessary amendments as may be deemed necessary. Today is a great opportunity to convey our gratitude to the makers of our Constitution who gave us a system to bring about revolutionary changes peacefully by way of constitutional amendments.
The President said that the people of our country deserve to be complimented for the value and respect that the Indian Constitution has earned over the last 70 years. Likewise, the three organs of the Union and State Governments, i.e., the legislature, the executive and the judiciary deserve to be complimented for the same. Strengthening the relationship and synergy between the Union and States, our journey towards 'Co-operative Federalism' is a living example of the dynamism of our Constitution.
The President said that Mahatma Gandhi, while speaking about rights and duties of people, had said "the true source of rights is duty. If we all discharge our duties, right will not be far to seek. If leaving duties unperformed we run after rights, they escape us like a will-o'-the-wisp.” The President said that by incorporating the provisions relating to Fundamental Duties into our Constitution, our Parliament has made it abundantly clear that while being alert about their rights, citizens should also be conscious of their duties.
The President said that rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. Our Constitution provides the fundamental right to ‘freedom of speech and expression’ and it also enjoins upon citizens the duty to safeguard public property and to abjure violence. Therefore, we need to perform our duties and thereby create circumstances which would ensure effective protection of rights.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Shri Radha Mohan Singh to review the Flagship Programmes with 13 State Ministers
Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh will be reviewing the progress of two priority programs of the Government namely National Agricultural Market  and Soil Health Card on 5th July 2017 at Krishi Bhawan. State Ministers of Agri-marketing of the 13 States, markets of which have integrated to e-NAM, and State Agriculture Ministers of some selected States will be attending along with their senior State officials. The progressive agri-market reforms being driven by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare and NITI Aayog incorporated in the new model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing  Act, 2017 will also be discussed to encourage the States to adopt the suggested provisions at the earliest to bring in the benefits for the farmers.
455 markets from 13 States have been integrated to the national web based portal of e-NAM with the registration of over 47 lakh farmers and 91,000 traders. This innovative market process is revolutionizing agri markets by ensuring better price discovery, bringing in transparency and competition to enable farmers to get improved remuneration for their produce moving towards “One Nation One Market”. The Soil Health Card scheme is helping the farmers to know the nutrition status of their land and receiving advisory for rationalization of inputs, thereby reducing costs and increasing returns through appropriate cropping patterns. The second cycle which began from 1st May 2017 is building on the learnings of the first cycle so as to improve efficiency and make its use more acceptable by the farmers. So far 9 crore soil health cards have been distributed to farmers in all the States of the country. The review meeting will enable Central and State Governments to jointly address issues to take these programs forward thereby contributing to enhancing farmers income – the prime objective of all the programs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
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Ministry of Civil Aviation
Cabinet approves Development of New Greenfield Airport Dholera, Ahmedabad
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for development of Phase I of New Greenfield Airport at Dholera, Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs. 1305 crore, to be completed within 48 months.
The project is being implemented by Dholera International Airport Company Limited , which is a Joint Venture Company comprising Airports Authority of India , Government of Gujarat  and National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust  holding equity in the ratio of 51:33:16.
Dholera Airport is to get Passenger and Cargo traffic from Dholera Special Investment Region  and is expected to become a major cargo hub to serve the industrial region. This Airport will also cater to the nearby region and serve as a second airport to Ahmedabad.
The New Greenfield Airport at Dholera is situated at an aerial distance of 80 Km from Ahmedabad, Airport. The Airport is planned for operationalization from the year 2025-26 and initial passenger traffic is estimated to be 3 lakh passengers per annum, expected to grow to 23 lakh over a period of 20 years. The annual cargo traffic is also estimated from the year 2025-26 at 20,000 tonne, which would increase to 2,73,000 tonne over a period of 20 years.
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Exemption to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight  experimental flights of drones
20 entities granted permission
Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted conditional exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System {UAS) Rules, 2021 to 20 entities to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight  experimental flights of drones. The preliminary permission grant is envisioned to assist the supplementary framework development of subsequent UAV rules pertaining to Beyond Visual Line of Sight  drone operations.
BVLOS trials will help create framework for future drone deliveries and other major applications using drones.
The Central Government had constituted the 'BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring  Committee' to invite Expression of Interest  to undertake BVLOS experimental flights of drones. An EOI notice  was issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation  for the aforementioned purpose. The BEAM Committee evaluated the 34 EOls received and selected 20 consortia  for the experimental flights.
These exemptions are subject to complete adherence to the requirements stated in the said EOI notice and the directions/ exemptions issued  by the BEAM Committee. This conditional exemption shall be valid for period of one year, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
List of Selected Consortia for experimental BVLOS drone operations
1. Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu 
2. ANRA Consortium A
3. ANRA Consortium B
4. Asteria Aerospace Pvt. Ltd.
5. AutoMicroUAS Aerotech Pvt. Ltd.
6. Centillion Networks Pvt. Ltd.
7. ClearSky Flight Consortium
8. Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Pvt. Ltd.
9. Dunzo Air Consortium
10. Marut Dronetech Pvt. Ltd.
11. Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
12. Saubika Consortium
13. Skylark Drones & Swiggy
14. ShopX Omnipresent Consortium
15. Spicejet Ltd.
16. Terradrone Consortium B
17. The Consortium
18. Throttle Aerospace Systems Pvt. Ltd.
19. Value Thought IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
20. Virginia Tech India
Link to Public Notice
Competition Commission of India
Shri Arun Jaitley inaugurates new office building of CCI
Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs said that the function of the Competition Commission of India  is going to expand further as the size of our economy is becoming large. Shri Jaitley said this while inaugurating the new office of the Competition Commission of India  here today.
Shri Jaitley further said that India has potential to be among top three economies of the world in the next 10-20 years . He said “ This year, by sheer size, we have overtaken France. Next year, we expect to overtake the size of the Britain’s economy and will become the 5th largest economy in the world.” Other economies in the world is growing at much lesser rate and India has the potential to be among top three economies of the world in the next 10-20 years, Shri Jaitley added.
While speaking on the role of CCI in the fast growing Indian economy, Shri Jaitley said, India can already see the ripples of a consumption economy in India. The exponential growth taking place in several sectors will lead to large number of domestic and international players. That size of economy is going to expand and some will not comply with fair market regulation, indulge in cartelisation, have vertical or horizontal tie ups, abuse dominant position to impact prices or dilute competition. Therefore, the regulatory mechanism to regulate all the Mergers & Acquisitions would be required. These changes to be extremely large and the impact on markets is going to be very large.
Shri Jaitely focused on the growth potential of eastern region of India while speaking on the growth pattern pan-India, “Over the next 10-20 years, we still have a lot of avenues for pushing up our growth. India has seen growth more in the north, south and western parts of the country. The eastern side has to still grow faster. We are expecting to see growth there.”
Acting CCI Chairperson Shri Sudhir Mital, Shri Injeti Sriniwas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Members of the Commission, senior Government officials and advocates attended the inauguration ceremony.
Ministry of Electronics & IT
MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar held Bilateral Meetings with Ministerial Delegations of Bangladesh, South Korea, France and Türkiye
Potential areas of collaboration such as Digital Public Infrastructures, India Stack, AI, Skilling and Cybersecurity explored
Future of technology cannot be shaped by a few countries and companies and needs to be more inclusive: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar
India Stack has transformed lives of citizens & built trust between government and Digital Nagriks: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar
We are offering India Stack to countries across the globe that intend to digitize their economies and governance: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar held bilateral meetings with the ministerial delegations and other senior representatives from Bangladesh, South Korea, France and Türkiye at the Fourth Meeting of G20 Digital Economy Working Group.
The Minister met and Interacted with Mr Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for ICT, Bangladesh. The discussion focused on potential collaborations around India Stack, Cyber Security and Skilling. During the meeting Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar noted, “The partnership between India and Bangladesh will rewrite the narratives about South Asia.”
The Minister also held a bilateral meeting with Mr Henri Verdier, Ambassador for the Ministry of Digital Affairs, France. The interaction revolved around how technologies such as AI are transforming the lives of citizens. Minister Chandrasekhar noted that New India heavily invested in AI. He further said, “There’s an opportunity for like-minded partners like India and France to help countries who want to digitize their Government and economy through DPIs such as India Stack.”
During his meeting with Mr Mehmet Fatih Kacir, Minister of Industry and Technology, Türkiye; Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar noted, “The future of technology cannot be shaped by a few countries and companies and needs to be more inclusive.”
Lastly, the Minister held a bilateral meeting with Dr Jin-bae Hong, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, with the discussions revolving around the deep relationship between India and South Korea in the broad technology space especially electronics while. Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar also noted, “The growth of this partnership can have a bigger impact on the world.” The ministers also talked about the need for a Safe and Trusted internet.
Ministry of Science & Technology
ILS scientists discovered a new health promoting probiotic bacteria
The Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, a centre of eminence in biotechnology research has put forward a novel research initiative in addressing health, nutrition and well-being of tribal communities of Odisha. Around three years back, under the leadership of former director of ILS, late Dr. Ajay Parida, the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India supported the ILS-flagship program on tribal health and nutrition. Under this program multiple scientists of ILS are supervising different aspects of studies that could improve the health and wellbeing of Odisha’s tribes. In one of its studies, the ILS team planned to explore the use of beneficial microorganisms to improve the health status of these people.
Probiotics are good microbes that provide health benefits to humans and animals when taken live in adequate amounts. These helpful organisms are known to be useful in the prevention and control of multiple health associated problems like diarrhoea, obesity and many immunological disorders. Realizing the unique food habits, culture and ecosystems of tribes of Odisha, the scientists of ILS planned to isolate and characterize potential probiotics. In this regard, Dr. Shantibhusan Senapaiti’s group from ILS has isolated multiple probiotics and characterized those. Recently, the group has published the whole genome sequence and other probiotic properties of one of the helpful bacteria and the work has been published in the “World journal of microbiology and biotechnology”, a reputed international journal in this field. Dr. Jayalaxmi Dash and Ms. Manisha Sethi, the lead authors of this publication have mentioned that for three more probiotics the whole genome sequencing has already been completed and the sequences have been submitted to the NCBI database.
Dr. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, the Director of ILS and the principal investigator of the ILS-flagship project has expressed his immense happiness on this achievement and mentioned to extend this effort in a more elaborate manner to develop functional foods by using these probiotics in future. As the origins of these probiotics are from the Odisha tribes, Dr. Senapati expects that the health promoting effects of these organisms will be more beneficial to the tribal people of Odisha and help in improving the overall health status in future. This is an encouraging initiative and a bold stride towards the development of population specific probiotics intervention.
RoW
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Cabinet
Cabinet approves Cadre review and formation of Group ‘A’service of the technical cadre of Petroleum & Safety Organization  in the name of Indian Petroleum & Explosives Safety Service 
The Union Cabinet chaired by chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Cadre review and formation of Group ‘A’ service of the technical cadre of Petroleum & Safety Organization  in the name of Indian Petroleum & Explosives Safety Service .
The measure will enhance the capacity and efficiency of the organization and it will also enhance career progression of its Group ‘A’ officers.
Background:
PESO is a subordinate office under Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion . The organization is serving the nation since 1898 as a nodal agency for regulating safety of substances such as explosives, compressed gases and petroleum. Over the years, the role and responsibilities of PESO have increased manifold and expanded into diverse fields. Today, the organization deals with wide range of subjects related to explosives, petroleum, compressed gases, pressure vessels, gas cylinders, cross-country pipelines, Liquefied Natural Gas , Compressed Natural Gas , Auto Liquefied Petroleum Gas  etc. The increase in workload is manifested in the quantum jump in the number of licensed premises and other activities.
The present sanctioned strength of Technical Group ‘A’ cadre of PESO is 137 having 60 Junior Time Scale  level officers, 46 Senior Time Scale  level officers, 23 Junior Administrative Grade  level officers , 7 JAG level officers  and 1 Senior Administrative Grade  level post of Chief Controller of Explosives.
To remove acute stagnation in all grades and uplift the morale of the workforce and enhance its performance, it has been decided to form Group ‘A’ Service of the technical cadre of PESO in the name of IPESS and restructure the newly-formed service by increasing 5 posts at Level-13 and 3 posts at Level-12 and corresponding reduction of 8 posts at Level-11.